Unmanned aircraft or air vehicles (UAVs) provide enhanced and economical access to areas where manned flight operations are unacceptably costly and/or dangerous. For example, unmanned aircraft outfitted with remotely controlled cameras can perform a wide variety of surveillance missions, including spotting schools of fish for the fisheries industry, monitoring weather conditions, providing border patrols for national governments, and providing military surveillance before, during and/or after military operations.
Existing unmanned aircraft systems suffer from a variety of drawbacks. For example, existing unmanned aircraft systems (which can include the aircraft itself along with launch devices, recovery devices, and storage methods) typically require substantial space. Accordingly, these systems can be difficult to install and operate in cramped quarters, such as the deck of a small fishing boat, land vehicle or other craft. Lack of portability, inefficient use of transport space, and less than rapid deployment are also drawbacks with some systems. Another drawback with some existing unmanned aircraft is that, due to small size and low weight, they can be subjected to larger acceleration, deceleration, and other forces than can larger, manned air vehicles. Accordingly, small UAVs may be prone to damage, particularly during recovery and launch operations in hostile environments, such as a heaving ship deck.